


admiration

by chaotic_carisi



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:14:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29811027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaotic_carisi/pseuds/chaotic_carisi
Summary: “I admire your, uh…” Sonny started, but Rafael felt his stomach flip and cut in as he hesitated.“Suicidal streak?” He regretted saying it instantly, but the smile on Sonny’s face was enough to let him know he wasn’t mad about being cut off.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 46





	admiration

“I admire your, uh…” Sonny started, but Rafael felt his stomach flip and cut in as he hesitated. 

“Suicidal streak?” He regretted saying it instantly, but the smile on Sonny’s face was enough to let him know he wasn’t mad about being cut off. 

Before he could find out what Sonny was going to say, Liv appeared, telling them the jury had a verdict. He paused for a moment, letting Sonny and Liv go back into the courtroom before he took a deep breath and followed them in. 

He couldn’t focus on the jury, only replaying Sonny’s words in his mind. Sonny admired him? Or, at least, something about him. Rafael forced himself not to drop his head onto the table and instead focused on the jury, although he wished he hadn’t.

He turned around out of habit as the judge announced D'Amico would be walking free and locked eyes with Sonny, who offered an apologetic smile. 

"Drinks?" He mouthed, and Rafael nodded before turning back around, fighting the smile that he felt coming. 

"I won't be long." He said as he passed Sonny, making his way upstairs to fill out some paperwork. 

-

Rafael checked his watch as he hung up the phone for the last time that night and felt his heart stop as he realised he had been there for almost 2 hours. 

"Shit." He muttered, grabbing his phone and rushing out and downstairs. With all the paperwork and phone calls on his mind, he had completely forgotten about meeting Sonny for drinks. 

"Carisi, I am so sorry," He rushed as soon as he picked up. "I forgot, I just got caught up in everything, I-" 

Sonny cut him off as Rafael pushed through the front doors, sighing as the cold air hit him. "It's alright, don't worry." Sonny said, and Rafael looked around, confused as he heard his voice coming from somewhere else along with his phone. 

"Where are you?" Rafael asked, stepping forwards to the top of the steps and feeling his heart sink when he noticed Sonny sitting halfway down, waving up to him.

"I'm really sorry." He said, sitting next to Sonny on the steps. "You didn't have to wait." 

Sonny shrugged, an empty coffee cup sitting in front of him. . "I wanted to." Rafael shivered, regretting not bringing his own coat as the wind rushed by.. Sonny noticed, and shrugged off his own coat. "Here," He said, wrapping it around Rafael.

"Thanks." Rafael felt his cheeks burn red, but couldn't tell if he was blushing or just cold. They sat in silence for a minute, watching the cars pass by. "Hey, Sonny?" 

"Yeah?" 

"What were you going to say before. Before I interrupted." He asked, not sure what he was expecting to hear. 

"Oh." Oh? He definitely wasn't expecting that. Sonny looked down at the ground, picking up the coffee cup and twisting the lid as he spoke. "I'm not sure what I was going to say. It felt like the right moment to say something, but I guess I panicked once the words started coming." 

"You don't have to say," Rafael said, not wanting to make Sonny uncomfortable. "If you don't want to, you don't have to." 

"No, it's okay." Sonny took a deep breath. "I guess, I just admire you. I mean, you helped me out a lot, with letting me shadow you in court, but this is more. More than a professional thing, and I know that's probably really inappropriate, I know you probably don't feel the same way, I just… I had to say it."

"I'm glad you said it." Rafael whispered once Sonny had stopped, tucking his arm into the crook of Sonny’s elbow. 

"Really?" Sonny looked up, surprise all over his face as he felt Rafael's arm against his own. It felt nice. 

It felt right. 

"Of course. Come on, let's go get that drink." Rafael stood up, pulling Sonny with him and started to go down the stairs, stopping when he realised Sonny hadn't moved. "What?" 

"Uhm, you do realise I'm telling you I like you, right?" 

Rafael laughed, reaching out to steady himself when he almost tripped down the steps.

"Yes, I realised that." He kept laughing, but stopped when he saw the look on Sonny's face. "I like you too, Sonny. Now come on, I really need a drink." He held his hand out, smiling when Sonny took it.


End file.
